The bookies' favourite to become Ireland's next prime minister has defended his decision not to attend the first live televised debate of the republic's general election.

The Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, said it was better to meet people around the country than take part in a live TV3 discussion with his two main rivals.

Kenny received a rapturous reception at a public meeting in Carrick-on-Shannon in Co Leitrim.

Referring to his decision to chose Leitrim rather than a television studio in west Dublin, Kenny said: "This is an important element of the election as well."

Kenny's critics claimed he was running scared of the live debate because he was seen to have lost to Bertie Ahern during the last general election in 2007.

The Fine Gael leader's two main rivals, the new Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin, and Labour's Eamon Gilmore, have accused him of going on a "chicken run" and being afraid of facing one million viewers.

Later Martin and Gilmore clashed on the TV3 debate over taxation and the multibillion-euro bailout for Ireland's debt-ridden banks.

Although TV3 billed the two-hour programme as the "taoiseach debate", neither Martin nor Gilmore is likely to become taoiseach after the vote on 25 February.

In what was a relatively flat first half of the debate Gilmore pledged that Labour would not increase taxes for anyone earning less than €100,000 a year. Gilmore said that every person who had lost their job during the recession was costing the economy €20,000 in terms of lost taxation and welfare payments.

Gilmore began his opening remarks by saying that "Ireland was a great country" but had a "lousy government".

The Labour chief said that in government his party would insist on renegotiating the IMF/European Central Bank bailout for Ireland, particularly on the interest rates Ireland was being charged. Gilmore said this would be possible as part of a pan-European effort. Referring to the fiscal crisis, the international bailout and the billions poured into the ailing Irish banks, Gilmore added: "Let's not forget it's your party that got us into this hole in the first place."

Martin later accused the Labour leader of "chopping and changing" the party's economic policy. He added that Labour had originally signed up to Fianna Fáil's economic plan. Martin claimed Labour still wanted to tax too much and warned it could not tax the country out of a recession.

After the programme, the Irish communications expert Terry Prone concluded on TV3 that Martin appeared to have marginally won the debate.

The new Fianna Fáil leader's performance may give the party a bounce as part of its strategy to minimise its losses in a fortnight.

There will be three more live leaders' debates including one next Wednesday which will be conducted in the Irish language on the Gaelic-speaking station TG4. Another of the debates on TV3 will include the leaders of the five main parties including the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams.